Buildings Lock in Workplace Sexism

Physical infrastructure and administrative choices (e.g., a 1950s engineering building with only one bathroom per floor) can encode assumptions about who belongs at work and create everyday barriers for excluded groups. Small, mundane design decisions thus become enduring signals and practical obstacles that reproduce occupational exclusion long after explicit policies change. — Recognizing infrastructural sexism reframes DEI from individual bias training to concrete facility and procurement reforms that affect recruitment, retention, and safety in STEM workplaces.